Tajikistan: Export Control Developments
9/10/2002: US AMBASSADOR GIVES
VEHICLES TO TAJIKISTANI BORDER FORCES, CUSTOMS SERVICE
On 10 September 2002, US Ambassador to
Tajikistan Franklin Huddle
donated 19 vehicles (eight GAZ vans, four Kamaz trucks, and seven UAZ all-terrain vehicles) to the Tajikistani Committee on State Border Protection and the Customs
Department of the Republic of Tajikistan. The donation was part of the Export Control and Border Security Program
(EXBS), a joint program of the
US Customs Service and the US Department of State to help the government of
Tajikistan prevent and control illicit transfers of weapons of mass destruction,
arms, and other related materials in and out of the country. In the coming weeks
the EXBS will provide Tajikistan with 16 additional automobiles,
as well as binoculars, hand-held global positioning satellite units, high frequency radios,
and personnel training.
["U.S. Ambassador Hands
Over Vehicles to Tajik Border Forces, Customs Service," US Embassy Tajikistan
press release, 10 September 2002; in US Embassy Tajikistan Web Site
http://usembassy.state.gov/dushanbe/wwwhexbs.htm.] {Entered 9/23/2002 AI}
5/96: SEMINAR ON BORDER CONTROLS The US Customs Service has tentatively scheduled an 8 day seminar on border
controls for May 1996. The seminar will likely involve 24 Tajik field officers. [Connie J. Fenchel, "Nuclear Non-proliferation: US Customs Service Training
And Anti-Smuggling Efforts In The Newly Independent States," Testimony Before the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Government Affairs, US Senate, 22
March 1996.]
4/17/96: NEW CHAIRMAN OF THE CIS INTERIOR MINISTER’S COUNCIL Recently appointed Tajik minister of the Interior, Major-General Sayidamir
Zuhorov, was elected chairman of the CIS Interior Minister's Council at
a meeting in Dushanbe. Zuhorov reportedly intends to coordinate a crackdown
on organized crime and weapons and drug smuggling. [Lowell Bezanis, "Tajikistan's Interior Minister New
CIS Top Cop," OMRI Daily Digest, 18 April 1996, p. 3.] 4/4/96: MEETING OF THE CIS SECURITY REPRESENTATIVES Representatives of CIS security bodies were in Dushanbe to discuss issues of coordination of efforts to combat drug smuggling, terrorism,
and illegal trade of weapons. The participants decided to create a common
CIS information database on these issues. [Igor Shestakov, "Terroristov i Narkodeltsov Zanesyt
v Ediny Bank Dannykh," K-Daily, 16 April 1996, p. 5.]
3/7/96: AGREEMENT WITH CHINA ABOUT BORDER-RELATED ISSUES It is reported that an agreement between Russia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China on mutual trust aimed at limiting military
forces at the Chinese borders of the CIS states is planned to be signed
in the first half of 1996 in Shanghai. Land borders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan with China cover 1,533 km, 858 km, and 414 km respectively.
These countries are known to be concerned about alleged encroachment by
Chinese settlers, smuggling, and other border-related issues. [Bolot Kerimbaev, Kyrgyz News Digest, 4 - 12 March 1996, p. 2.]
2/96: THERE ARE NO RUSSIAN CONSCRIPT SERVICEMEN IN TAJIKISTAN In an interview, Russian General Andrey Ivanovich Nikolayev, Chief of the
Federal Border Services, explained that there are no conscript servicemen
in Tajikistan. Further, nearly 12,000 of the 18,000 border guards serving
under Russian authority are actually citizens of Tajikistan, while another
2,000 soldiers hail from the other four republics of Central Asia. [Viktor Loshak, Moskovskiye novosti, 18 - 25 February 1996, No.
7, pp. 1, 9; in FBIS-UMA-96-050-S, 13 march 1996.]
8/95: WORKSHOP ON NONPROLIFERATION IN ALMATY Representatives from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and
Turkmenistan convened in Almaty to attend a workshop on nuclear nonproliferation
and anti-smuggling efforts, sponsored by the US Customs Service. Twelve
participants attended the 8 day seminar. [Connie J. Fenchel, "Nuclear Non-proliferation: US Customs Service Training
And Anti-Smuggling Efforts In The Newly Independent States," Testimony Before the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Government Affairs, US Senate, 22
March 1996.]
1993: TAJIKISTAN LEFT WITH LESS THAN 1% OF SOVIET MIC It was reported that Tajikistan possesses less than 1 percent
of the military-industrial base of the former Soviet Union. The only products
of military significance are the solid-propellant rocket motors for strategic
missiles, fabricated in the city of Taboshar. There are no military RDT&E
facilities in Tajikistan. [Richard F. Kaufman and John P. Hardt (eds.), The Former Soviet
Union in Transition (Joint Economic Committee Congress of the United States,
1993), p. 788.]
2/93: CONTROL OVER THE MATERIALS FOR WEAPON PRODUCTION Tajikistan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan have agreed
to cooperate in control over exports of raw materials, equipment, technologies
and services which could be used in the production of weapons of mass destruction.
According to a report in Krasnaya zvezda, however, some experts, believe
that these agreements are not working. Sources: [1] ITAR-TASS, 2/9/93; in JPRS-TND-93-006, "Six States Agree
To Bar Weapons Technology Exports," 5 March 1993, p. 17; Krasnaya zvezda,
28 August 1993,
p. 3. [2] JPRS-TND-93-029, "Islamic Power Could Mean Nuclear Proliferation,"
17 September 1993, p. 37. See section "Attitude Toward Nonproliferation."
1-3/92: RUMORS OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL EXPORT Numerous unsubstantiated reports maintain that the Tajikistani
government held discussions regarding the exports of enriched uranium and
weapons technology with representatives from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq,
Turkey, Pakistan and Libya. Sources:
[1] Moskovskiye novosti, 19 January 1992, p. 5.
[2] Defense and Foreign Strategic Policy, February 1992. [3] Radio Rossii, 9 August 1992; in Central Eurasia,
11 August 1992, p. 2. [3] Hamburg DPA, 2 January 1992; in Reuters, 3 January 1992. [4] Proliferation Issues, 31 January 1992, p. 50.
